What Lies Beneath
What Lies Beneath is the eighth episode of Season 9: Hunted of LEGO Ninjago & My Little Pony: Masters of Friendship. The title of this episode is a reference to the 2000 American supernatural horror film of the same name. The episode is based on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episode of the same name and the events take place after "Two Lies, One Truth" and before "The Weakest Link". In this episode, the Young Six and the Young Ninja cram for Starlight Glimmer's "History of Magic in Equestria" and "History of Elemental Powers in Ninjago" exam when they discover a part of the School of Friendship that no one else knows about. While at the First Realm, the Marooned Ninja and the Alicorn princesses were sent in the enslavement cave to pass the test, which discovers a mirror which gave reflection to the other side. Plot The mysterious Tree of Harmony The episode begins at the School of Friendship, where Starlight Glimmer is giving a lesson on the Tree of Harmony and its mysterious powers and seemingly sentient abilities, including growing an entire castle from its roots. When the school bell rings, Starlight announces that the students will be given a test the following day about friendship's effects on Equestrian history, and she encourages the students to study for the test in groups. Meanwhile, at the School of Spinjitzu, Lloyd reliefs Kai for History lessons and he learns about how the First Spinjitzu Master was able to recreate the four Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu. The same way, he gave a test regarding about the Elemental effects on Ninjago History as well. In the school's fountain square, Gallus sarcastically suggests asking one of the trees for help in studying for the upcoming test. As he and his friends share a laugh on their way to the library, something inside a nearby drain gives off a faint glow. To fight or to enslave In the Realm of Oni and Dragons, the Marooned Ninja and the Alicorn princesses find a special cave that Faith showed, the Cave of Enslavement. It is where the First Spinjitzu Master went inside the cave to create the Realm Crystal so that he can traverse the Sixteen Realms, except the Departed Realm. It also has a mirror that can lead to other realms. Jay was curious to find a mirror in this cave, and the fellow Ninja and the Alicorn princesses agreed. However, Faith warn them not to enter the cave, as Iron Baron and the Dragon Hunters will block the cave entrance. In Ninjago, the Young Ninja were studying for the upcoming test, and Damien was still tired due to this. However, Nelson persuades them to pass the test and enter the second year. They seek advice from the Resistance, however, they were busy searching for the Quiet One. Tired of having this, Caralisa agrees to study with the Young Six at the School of Friendship. Friendship in one's nature At the school library, the Young Six study for their upcoming test and the Young Ninja joined them as well, but Gallus and Smolder have trouble understanding the course material, Silverstream becomes preoccupied by the wonders of indoor plumbing, Zachary holding too much information regarding about the history of the First Spinjitzu Master, and Yona dozes off to sleep. Despite this, the twelve remain in positive spirits. Cozy Glow overhears them as she organizes library books nearby. She expresses how great it is that they are so relaxed about the upcoming test despite their numerous disadvantages as a group, including Sandbar being more experienced in friendship than the others, Ocellus' inherent nature as a changeling, Silverstream being sheltered from the outside world for most of her life, Gallus and Smolder being averse to friendship as a griffon and dragon respectively, Yona being a narcissistic yak, Nelson adapting to life without injuries, Caralisa knows which destiny she want to follow, Kimberly facing sibling rivalry with her brother, Damien becoming the youngest climber to climb on top of the highest mountain, even though he was a ghost, Zachary goes through life with numbers and technology, and Felix made an adversity for the Ninja to be friends, which the Serpentine tribes force him not to, due to the Time Twins using Snakes in their army. Cozy Glow offers to lend the Young Six and the Young Ninja her friendship notes to help them prepare for the test, and when she leaves to retrieve them, the Young Six become uncomfortable around each other. They return to studying, but after hearing Cozy Glow's words, they get upset at each other over trivial matters, and some of them start to wonder if friendship is truly in their nature. Beneath the School of Friendship Just then, the students hear a strange sound at the far back of the library, and they follow it to an open floor grate with a mysterious crystal root sticking out of it. Inside, they find a large cavern filled with more crystal roots, and they encounter what appears to be an illusion Twilight Sparkle, but she glows and speaks to them in a bizarre, mystical tone. This "Twilight" senses that the Young Six and the Young Ninja are "not one", and they tell her that they don't know if friendship is truly in their nature. "Twilight" doesn't accept this and decides to give the Young Six and the Young Ninja a test. If they fail to pass the test before morning, they will remain trapped in the caves forever. The Young Six and the Young Ninja are all suddenly teleported to different parts of the caverns. Silverstream finds herself in what she believes to be Mount Aris, and she hides under the water when shadows of the Storm King and his Storm Creatures appear. Gallus ends up in a small enclosure that gets even smaller whenever he touches certain shafts of light. Yona finds herself in a nest occupied by hundreds of spiders. Smolder encounters two mares having a cute tea party, and she is unable to escape from them. Ocellus encounters a pair of un-reformed changelings who address her as "Your Majesty", and she discovers she has taken the form of Queen Chrysalis. Finally, Sandbar encounters what appear to be Rarity and Rainbow Dash, who ask for his help in dealing with an emergency. Sandbar is eager to help, but when he mentions the rest of his friends, "Rainbow Dash" says they don't need them. Caralisa went back to Cloud Kingdom, but she was confronted by the Preeminent. She thought that she is unable to defeat her. Kimberly has the same fear as Yona's, spiders. Damien was going on an expedition to climb a volcano, which is what he was afraid of: lava. Felix encounters fans who believe that the young Serpentine is famed, but he got chased after too many people want him due to his viral on his stuff. Nelson has his own fear, running out of time, when he is about to train in order to be a Ninja, until he gets procrastinated and suffer injuries. Zachary went back to Ninjago City, only to realize that Cyrus Borg is captured, but he was intimidated by the Sons of the Overlord generals. In the Realm of Oni and Dragons, Coming soon... What are you most afraid of? Inside his small, shrinking enclosure, an increasingly panicked Gallus assures himself that if this is a test, there must be a solution. He realizes that there are two different colors of lights shining in—touching the pink lights makes the enclosure shrink, and touching the blue lights makes it widen. After touching enough of the blue lights, Gallus makes the enclosure wide enough for him to squeeze out through a small opening before he gets crushed. Meanwhile, Smolder's flights through the cave tunnels keep circling her back to the tea party with the two mares. She asks them what she has to do in order to pass her test and escape, and they hint that she likes cute things, but fears admitting it, due to her tough dragon exterior. Begrudgingly, Smolder puts on a cute dress and joins the mares' tea party. Elsewhere, Yona tries to escape the nest of hundreds of spiders. When they corner her, she screams in terror, causing the spiders to back away a little. When Yona realizes the spiders mean her no harm and just want to be her friends, she overcomes her fear of them. Back at the caves' entrance, Gallus meets up with Smolder. They notice that the way out of the caves is still open and reason that if any other dragon and griffon were in their situation, they would escape and leave the others behind. Realizing they are different from the average dragon and griffon, they decide to stay and find their friends so that they can all escape together. Meanwhile, Sandbar continues to travel through the caves with "Rarity" and "Rainbow Dash". When he mentions wanting to go and find his friends, "Rarity" and "Rainbow Dash" tell him to figure out where his loyalty truly lies. When Smolder finds Ocellus, Ocellus—still in the form of Queen Chrysalis—is unable to change back to her own form, believing she cannot escape the changelings' terrible past. Smolder assures Ocellus that she has changed for the better, and in an effort to help her overcome her fear, Smolder herself admits that she likes cute things. With Smolder's help—and the promise of being invited to a secret tea party—Ocellus conquers her fears and changes back to normal. In another part of the caves, Gallus finds Silverstream cowering in fear, believing the Storm King and his forces are going to terrorize her and her fellow Hippogriffs again. Gallus tells Silverstream that the shadows are just illusions, and he helps her overcome her fear by admitting to his own fear of small spaces. With Gallus's encouragement, Silverstream angrily tells the shadows off, causing them to vanish. With both of their fears conquered, Gallus and Silverstream head to find the rest of their friends. Back at the First Realm, Coming soon... Friendship conquers fear At the caves' entrance, Gallus and Silverstream meet up with Ocellus and Smolder, but Yona and Sandbar are nowhere to be found, and the entrance is slowly closing. Just then, Yona arrives with her hundreds of new spider friends—one of which she has named Spindle—and the spiders agree to help them track down Sandbar. Still traveling the caves with "Rarity" and "Rainbow Dash", Sandbar stops and refuses to go any further without the rest of his friends. "Rarity" and "Rainbow Dash" accuse Sandbar of caring more about his friends than he does about the rest of Equestria. However, Sandbar argues back that he has always admired his teachers because of the values of friendship they uphold, and he refuses to abandon his friends just to make his teachers proud. Because of this, Sandbar passes his test, and "Rarity" and "Rainbow Dash" vanish just as the rest of the Young Six arrive. With the six of them together again, the Young Six return to the cave entrance, but it has closed too much for any of them to fit through. Just then, "Starlight" appears before them again, and they realize it is not Starlight but a spiritual manifestation of the Tree of Harmony itself. The Tree explains that, as it grows, so do its abilities. It also explains that the Young Six themselves chose how their biggest fears manifested and that they overcame their fears for each other's sake. At the Realm of Oni and Dragons, Coming soon... Epilogue Because the Young Six passed the Tree of Harmony's test of friendship, they are finally able to return to the school library. There, they explain to Cozy Glow what they experienced underneath the school. They consider telling the Mane Six about what they found, but Cozy begs them not to, realizing it was her words that set off this chain of events in the first place and fearing she might get expelled because of it. Back at the First Realm, the Ninja and the Alicorn Princesses were in a cave, but they were lost. Cole suggest to go back to the entrance, but Iron Baron and the Dragon Hunters trapped them in the cave, caused by the boulders, in which they cannot escape. Celestia and Luna find another way to get out, until Luna talk to bats, which is what Celestia tricking her that they are not Batponies. The bats chased the Ninja and the princesses and slide down when deeper in the cave, which they all fell to the empty cavern that it was a test that Faith talks about. The Young Six, exhausted from their ordeal, agree not to tell anyone. They suddenly remember their upcoming test but are too tired to continue studying. As they start to fall asleep, Cozy offers to tell Starlight that they helped her organize the library books so that she'll give them a test extension. The Young Six thank Cozy for her help, and as they fall asleep together, Cozy apologizes for the trouble she inadvertently caused. The episode ends with Cozy Glow looking inside the floor grate and gazing at the Tree of Harmony's glow with great interest. Cast *Applejack - Ashleigh Ball *Changeling 1 - Katrina Salisbury *Changeling 2 - Vincent Tong *Cole - Kirby Morrow *Cozy Glow - Sunni Westbrook *Faith - Kathleen Barr *Gallus - Gavin Langelo *Jay - Michael Adamthwaite *Kai - Vincent Tong *Ocellus - Devyn Dalton *Princess Cadance - Britt McKillip *Princess Celestia - Nicole Oliver *Princess Luna - Tabitha St. Germain *Rainbow Dash - Ashleigh Ball *Rarity - Tabitha St. Germain *Sandbar - Vincent Tong *Silverstream - Lauren Jackson *Smolder - Shannon Chan-Kent *Starlight Glimmer - Kelly Sheridan *Stepford Pony 1 - Lauren Jackson *Stepford Pony 2 - Sunni Westbrook *The Overlord - Scott McNeil *Twilight Sparkle - Tara Strong *Yona - Katrina Salisbury *Zane - Brent Miller Locations Visited *TBA Transcript *What Lies Beneath (Transcript) Differences between this episode and original MLP episode *TBA *TBA Trivia *This episode was directly inspired by the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode The Gathering. *In the credits, the ponies who beckon Smolder to join their tea party are referred to as "Stepford Ponies 1 and 2". This is a reference to the thriller novel, The Stepford Wives, which portrays an idyllic New England town where all the women are murdered and replaced by robotic perfect housewife duplicates. The story was adapted multiple times, notably in in 1975 by Bryan Forbes, and recently, in 2004 by Frank Oz. *It is revealed that the First Spinjitzu Master created the Realm Crystal in the Cave of Enslavement. *Each character had a fear and conquered it. **Gallus' fear: Tight spaces **Smolder's fear: Cute stuff **Yona's fear: Spiders **Silverstream's fear: The Storm King **Ocellus' fear: Coming soon... **Sandbar's fear: Coming soon... **Caralisa's fear: The Preeminent **Kimberly's fear: Spiders **Damien's fear: Lava **Felix's fear: Coming soon... **Lil' Nelson's fear: Running out of time **Zachary's fear: The Sons of the Overlord generals **Kai's fear: Coming soon... **Jay's fear: Coming soon... **Zane's fear: Coming soon... **Cole's fear: Coming soon... **Wu's fear: Iron Baron **Celestia's fear: Coming soon... **Luna's fear: Coming soon... **Cadance's fear: Coming soon... **Twilight's fear: Coming soon... *This is the first appearance of the Preeminent since "Curseworld - Part II". Errors *TBA Gallery What_Lies_Beneath_Title_Card.png|Title card